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New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

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Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#61

Post by majormajor »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #8
civilian wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Equifax has salary data? I hadn't heard that. //edit: Well shit, TIL: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/10/equifax-breach-fallout-y...

Any time you apply for a credit card or other form of credit, you generally have to give your income.

Proving my income (with paystubs or a W2) separately from the credit report the bank ran always gave me the impression that the credit agencies didn't have that info. Nor do I ever recall seeing it in the reports I got from them.

Welp.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#62

Post by nicolashahn »

benji-york wrote: post #57
ciro_langone wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there isn't, unless you're okay with short-selling yourself. If you share and your amount is > the employers, you have no job. Bad situation. If you share and your amount is If you offer the number first, the employer becomes the customer - and the customer is always right. If you wait for them to make you an offer, they have to make an offer that is compelling, in the same way sales people go above-and-beyond to…

I think that holds only if your time is worth nothing. I don't want to go through weeks of interviews just to find out that my salary demands are $50K more than they're willing to pay.

This is exactly why I made the comment. Recently went through 4 calls and a full day on site just to be met with an offer they wouldn't budge on that's 20% lower than what I currently make.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#63

Post by arachnids »

ciro_langone wrote: post #19
nicolashahn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of off topic but should one always hide their current salary, even if it's above market rate (given their experience on paper)? It seems as though if an employer were only looking to spend so much on a hire, then if you're already likely above that number, wouldn't it save both you and the employer's time? I can see the obvious downside of sharing a relatively low salary, but it seems like there could be benefit…

No, there isn't, unless you're okay with short-selling yourself. If you share and your amount is > the employers, you have no job. Bad situation. If you share and your amount is If you offer the number first, the employer becomes the customer - and the customer is always right. If you wait for them to make you an offer, they have to make an offer that is compelling, in the same way sales people go above-and-beyond to…

> If you share and your amount is > the employers, you have no job.

FWIW, I have never had this happen to me in the Valley. Companies will either make projections on what their stock will be worth in the future to make their offer look as attractive as my current pay, or they'll straight up tell me that they have a leveling chart and $X is the maximum they can offer.

Asking me is a rational thing for them to do because they have nothing to lose - same outcome if I decline, win if I accept.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#64

Post by chollida1 »

Gargoyle wrote: post #56
chollida1 wrote: post #3

> The goal is to narrow the gender wage gap. If a woman is paid less than a man doing the same job and a new employer bases her pay on her prior salary, gender discrimination can be perpetuated, the bill’s backers say. Hmm, I'd never thought about that angle,but I guess it makes sense. No word on if they are allowed to use Equifax, etc to pull salary data from? EDIT: looking at the bill it looks like querying Equifax…

If you gather this information in any way from an applicant, you are opening yourself up to a lawsuit that will cost you many multiples of whatever you were hoping to save. Even if you win, which you won't. Also, "and — if applicants ask — must give them a pay range for the job they are seeking" So start offering what the job is worth.

are you sure you are replying to the correct comment. Nothing you wrote seems to have anything to do with what I posted:)

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#65

Post by benji-york »

fps wrote: post #17
nicolashahn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of off topic but should one always hide their current salary, even if it's above market rate (given their experience on paper)? It seems as though if an employer were only looking to spend so much on a hire, then if you're already likely above that number, wouldn't it save both you and the employer's time? I can see the obvious downside of sharing a relatively low salary, but it seems like there could be benefit…

I've always been upfront and honest about my current salary and expectations. It keeps me from getting lowballed on an offer, and reduces time wasted in talking to employers that can't meet my expected salary. The starting point is what I'm being paid now, plus a bit. Then we can negotiate additional salary, benefits and perks. My salary growth trajectory has been good over my career as a result.

When I made below-market rates, I withheld any salary data whatsoever. Now that I'm well above the median, I tell them as soon as they ask so as to avoid wasting my time.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#66

Post by alphonsegaston »

Gargoyle wrote: post #56
chollida1 wrote: post #3

> The goal is to narrow the gender wage gap. If a woman is paid less than a man doing the same job and a new employer bases her pay on her prior salary, gender discrimination can be perpetuated, the bill’s backers say. Hmm, I'd never thought about that angle,but I guess it makes sense. No word on if they are allowed to use Equifax, etc to pull salary data from? EDIT: looking at the bill it looks like querying Equifax…

If you gather this information in any way from an applicant, you are opening yourself up to a lawsuit that will cost you many multiples of whatever you were hoping to save. Even if you win, which you won't. Also, "and — if applicants ask — must give them a pay range for the job they are seeking" So start offering what the job is worth.

Considering that companies like Google and Apple went to illegal extremes to prevent competition for labor and depress employee wages, I find it unlikely that they’re not going to do the same thing here. They’ll probably invent some cryptic, convoluted means to launder the data, and if they ever get caught, pay whatever slap on the wrist fine is the cost of doing this kind of stuff.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#67

Post by Gargoyle »

bargl wrote: post #54

I've recently been on both ends of the table here. I don't share my previous salary but I'm always willing to share a pay range. The range being higher than I'd ever expect to get paid. I find this to be important when discussing salary with an employer because it gives me a baseline to continue discussions. If they can't meet my bottom line then I'm not interested. The reason I give a range is because salary is only…

"I've also come to expect that I'm going to give a candidate a pay range as well."

Employers in California are now required to do so upon request, so be prepared.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#69

Post by geofft »

nicolashahn wrote: post #5
pmoriarty wrote: post #4

This is a ban on employers -- afaik, recruiters can still ask (and many probably will ask). But, IANAL. (Correction: It looks like recruiters fall under this prohibition too, if they are acting as agents of the employer.) I personally never answer questions about my previous salary or my expected salary. When HR has given me forms to fill out that have questions about either I just leave them blank, and they've never…

Kind of off topic but should one always hide their current salary, even if it's above market rate (given their experience on paper)? It seems as though if an employer were only looking to spend so much on a hire, then if you're already likely above that number, wouldn't it save both you and the employer's time? I can see the obvious downside of sharing a relatively low salary, but it seems like there could be benefit…

> It seems as though if an employer were only looking to spend so much on a hire, then if you're already likely above that number, wouldn't it save both you and the employer's time?

Do you think you'll be able to convince an employer post-interview that you're actually worth that much? If so, then don't let them decide otherwise before they actually interview you.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#70

Post by sefpfi12 »

sharemywin wrote: post #50
sefpfi12 wrote: post #35

I don't think this is a right way to go about trying to narrow the gender wage gap. Half of the reason we have one (a wage gap) is because it's taboo in America to reveal how much you get paid with your co-workers. It makes no sense to me why that is the case, all it does it allow the company to screw you over more. The solutions should be to have each company come up with there own publicly available pay scale that…

The problem with that is an employer doesn't have any discretion on using pay increases as feedback for performance.

While agree that is a problem, I also think that if you gave that power back to the employer you would end up seeing a wage gap form as they give raises people who they like/shoot the shit with/are the same skin color as them/the list goes on.
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